Retrogression May Make Approvals More Fair

[mdh3000]

People have been throwing around their opinions on the recent retrogression of priority dates published in the Oct 2005 visa bulletin, so I'll give mine.

This retrogression may make the process more fair. What was happening when the priority date was current was that people who had priority dates in 2003 were getting their green card before people who had 2000 priority dates and were stuck in name check, how is that fair?

The problem is, there are two bottlenecks. The first is the priority date and the second is the name check.

I think the State Dept retrogressed the priority date so that they would stop receiving new I-485 applications. Once they have approved a majority of the I-485 before the priority date, they'll move it forward and work on the next batch.

It's not surprising that this retrogression happened. The USCIS has had a backlog of over 2-3 years worth of I-485s to approve. Once they caught up on the backlog, they used up a years worth of visas in only a few months.

I know this isn't any comfort those affected by retrogression, but I feel that if the green cards this year are going to go to people who have priority dates prior to 2000, at least that is fair.

mdh

 

[GreenCardVirus]

Yes, the process will be fair with retrogression. But,

Lot of people whose PD's are between 98 and 01 are substitution cases. So the people who actually started the GC process recently will get it much faster because of substitution labor.

No fairness will come unless labor substitution is banned.

Damage has already been done to many.

 

[lucky_gc]

Agree!
I think Naming Check is more horrible. I saw someone pending on naming check for several years. Even the PD is current they still can not get their case appoved. I guess this will stall the movement of the PD too.

What can we do to expedite the totally unpredictable endless naming check?

 

[mdh3000]

Yes, the process will be fair with retrogression. But,

Lot of people whose PD's are between 98 and 01 are substitution cases. So the people who actually started the GC process recently will get it much faster because of substitution labor.

No fairness will come unless labor substitution is banned.

Damage has already been done to many.

You are correct. I forgot about the sub labor cases.

I hope everyone has written a letter to their Members of Congress! I drafted a quick one this morning and faxed it out. It may not solve our problem, but it can't hurt!

mdh

 

[GreenCardVirus]

You are correct. I forgot about the sub labor cases.

I hope everyone has written a letter to their Members of Congress! I drafted a quick one this morning and faxed it out. It may not solve our problem, but it can't hurt!

mdh

Post the letter here, I'll use it as starter and fax letters.

 

[mdh3000]

Post the letter here, I'll use it as starter and fax letters.

The letter is at work and I have a job interview out of town next week, so I won't be able to post it until Thursday or so.

I'll start a new thread when I do.

mdh

 

[nato]

People with Name Check pending should also move faster

bcos FBI will be asked to concentrate on PD order too...

Agree!
I think Naming Check is more horrible. I saw someone pending on naming check for several years. Even the PD is current they still can not get their case appoved. I guess this will stall the movement of the PD too.

What can we do to expedite the totally unpredictable endless naming check?

 

[hope_Nov]

Well, how about mine?

Consider my case. My PD is Nov 2001. I am stuck at name check. Now the retrogression will screw me up even more. Is it fair to the persons like me? The retrogression should have started earlier. I know there are a lot of applications with PD in 2004, even in 2005 have been approved. They used up a lot of visa numbers. Then the old filers like me have to wait even longer. Sigh.

 

[slt]

No

bcos FBI will be asked to concentrate on PD order too...

FBI is already backlogged to its eyebrows. No retrogression will help it.

My prediction: We all will be seeing more and more NC cases which last literally FOREVER (and by forever I mean really forever). Not many people picked up on this yet, so you guys didn't see alarms going off.

Why do you think are you hearing about NCs being dragged for 3-4 years now? Very simple, that is because in the beginning 2002 - beginning 2003 FBI overhauled its NC system. The results of overhaul there is either NO DEADLINE for NC whatsoever or it is 20 years (allegedly).

You will be seeing more and more NC cases being dragged NOT FOR 3-4 YEARS, BUT starting from beginning 2002-beginning 2003 and ad infinium (literally forever).

Retrogression or no retrogression, we are yet to see the real bad delays yet.

 

[bambooshoot]

FBI have indicated that it takes between 1 day and 18 months (in case of a "HIT") to resolve a name check. A rule should be passed that if a name check is pending for more than 18 months, it should be assumed as lost and an approval should be made instead of waiting any longer. It is very difficult to understand how USICS can wait indefinitely to hear from FBI. Yes, the PDs should not move unless the cases stuck in name check are resolved. It is only fair.

 

[dima66a]

Name check can't go forever. I have read in Nebraska485 forum that all hits and idents are exired after 20 years. This was information directly from fbi agent working on that person's case. For him the agent said that his case might take as much as 7 more years (since the ident was 13 years old and some papers were lost). It might be the reason for my name check finish that some stupid secrecy papers that I signed in college in 1985 became 20 years old. So, ident (or hit) was taken out of consideration in my name check.

 

[GreenCardVirus]

I've never been against labor substitution. For the most part the people who have contacted me that used labor substitutions mainly did so because the company they were working with doesn't sponsor greencards, or they had a process going and they were laid off. Although, we tend to think they jump ahead of the line, most of the people who do this are in sixth, seventh year of h-1. They generally have been waiting for a long time already.

Now that being said; DOL proposal to end labor substitution-no one really knows how they are going to get rid of it. Does it mean you can't file an I-140, or if 140 has been filed but you can't file 485 or do they do it retroactively.

If people wanted to take USCIS to court they could argue that the law says priority dates aren't transferrable (USCIS procedure is that priority date doesn't attach until 140 is approved). Now, USCIS procedure may be breaking the law and that labor substitutions should use the 140 filing date as priority date. However, all the people who got 7th year extensions based on labor substitutions would be in big trouble.

I think if someone tooks USCIS to task on priority dates not transferrable they would have a reasonably good chance of winning. The whole retrogression would move forward fairly quickly but would get stuck sometime in 2002 as this is where many labors were filed which haven't beeen approved yet.

My biggest fear is that of the 400+k unapproved labors, most people on whose names these labors were filed are not even in picture. If approved there is a chance with almost certainity that these labors will be sold or misused.